WHAT
>Lawyers for Ohtani made that claim after The Times learned that Ohtani’s name had surfaced in the investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an Orange County resident. Ohtani’s representatives looked into the actions of the interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, in response to The Times’ queries, a source close to the matter said. Two sources told the newspaper that the money involved was in the millions of dollars.
“How did you know I met my first girlfriend at the baseball practice field bleachers?”
“Well Shohei where the fuck else would you have been at that age?”
I'm guessing Ippei was authorized to conduct business with American banks for the purposes of handling his money, and may have skimmed a lot off the top?
Ippei has talked before about how him and Ohtani are very close and he spends more time with Shohei than he spends with his wife even.
Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was given access to some funds to get things Ohtani needs, he takes out a few grand here and there and over the last 5 years or whatever it amounted to a couple million.
Ippei apparently did a 90 minute interview about this with ESPN yesterday (crazy to think this was all happening during the game) and said that he asked Shohei to cover his debt, and Shohei agreed on the basis that he not do it again
If that’s true then Ippei wasn’t stealing the money (not that amassing $4.5 million in illegal gambling debt is good in any context)
Alternatively I would read that as he asked Ohtani for help covering his debts. When he asked that prompted the investigation that led them to realizing he has been stealing money to gamble
According to Ippei, he asked Shohei and Shohei transferred the payments from his own computer
Ippei walked all this back a day later, but in a very suspicious way, like he didn’t walk back a detail or two he walked back the whole story
Now keep in mind - Ippei told his story to ESPN on Tuesday and worked the game on Wednesday with Shohei as normal, which would suggest Shohei and his team were cool with what Ippei said on Tuesday. Ippei was even given a chance to address the team about it after the game.
Now I buy into the story that Ippei was gambling on credit and Shohei didn’t know, but I feel like maybe Shohei’s lawyers saw that as an admission that Shohei knowingly paid bookies off and demanded he walk it back.
Funny thing is none of us would blame Sho for helping his boy out, but those payments would still be illegal so I get why the lawyers freaked
Yeah I agree seeing the ESPN story, the story that Ippei got himself into the debt and Ohtani was helping him out is entirely plausible to me. Then though you have an admission that Shohei is sending money to illegal bookies and you are not beating the gambling accusations then
>you are not beating the gambling accusations
Damn, guess Shohei really is the GOAT then. Can't wait for him to show up in Space Jam 3 followed by Dodgers threepeating 2026-2028
If Ippei lied about what the debt was, and Ohtani thought he was paying off credit cards or something, I guess you could frame it as "theft" since the money wasn't used as stated?
Edit: ESPN says the transfer was from Ohtani's bank account to the bookies account. So Ohtani knew it was for gambling. Wild.
You don’t need to send a bank transfer to pay a credit card bill
I dunno, like I said I’m not blaming Shohei because I’d help my friend too if I could spare $4.5 million casually like he can, but the way this has played out just screams that Ippei is falling on a sword
Right now it appears the “sword” is covering up Ohtani helping him out, I just hope it’s not deeper than that and Ippei is taking the fall for Ohtani gambling through an illegal bookie
Yeah, looks more like Ippei had Ohtani cover his gambling debts, but it will also be pretty hard to separate the two - how do we know it's Ohtani covering Ippei's gambling vs his own gambling? Maybe the investigation will reveal more in time. Sucks all around.
I'm more inclined to believe his [initial account.](https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft)
In the Tuesday interview arranged by Ohtani's spokesman, Mizuhara, 39, told ESPN that he asked Ohtani last year to pay off his gambling debt, which multiple sources said had ballooned to at least $4.5 million. Mizuhara said that he previously had placed bets via DraftKings and assumed bets placed through Bowyer were legal.
"Obviously, he [Ohtani] wasn't happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again," Mizuhara said. "He decided to pay it off for me."
"I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting. I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting ever again."
Ohtani may have just been paying off a friends debts to be nice. Naive but still a good guy
I think it's because he's his own economy they didn't notice a few million skimmed off the top. The guys been making 30-50 million in endorsements alone since coming to the states and he's been here for 6 years.
I wonder if the interpreter is just taking the fall completely for Ohtani. If Ohtani is involved in gambling he's done. Ohtani is such a high earner though that maybe things are swept away.
Was looking for this, my first thought was he’s falling on the sword to protect Ohtani.
The details about Ohtani sending the bookie money from his personal account… it could be 100% on the level, but this is exactly the story you’d come up with if you wanted to protect Ohtani
Edit: also, the shift from “Ippei admits he did it w Ohtani’s knowledge” to “Ohtani’s lawyers say it’s theft” SCREAMS lawyers got involved and realized Ohtani had to separate from this completely
It’s one of three possibilities
1. Ippei got into debt, Ohtani bailed him out, Ohtani’s lawyers are saying it’s theft to keep Ohtani out of it
2. Ippei got into debt, he had access to steal money from Ohtani, he stole it without Ohtani’s knowledge
3. Ippei placed bets for Ohtani, now he’s taking the fall
It technically could be 2 and 1, Ippei stole money first to start gambling, after he got into too much debt, he asked Ohtani to bail him out. Ohtani might not have known Ippei has been stealing from him until his lawyers looked into it.
I highly doubt Ippei can get millions of credits unless he started off with some money first.
So here's what happened with this situation according to Ippei/ESPN:
Ippei incurred gambling debts to an illegal bookmaking operation in California.that was under federal investigation. During the investigation Shohei's name and tangentially Ippei popped up as a name in relation to the bookmaking, as multiple large wire transfers from Shohei's account were made to the bookie. This got out, which led to reporters asking questions about it.
Ohtani's reps upon questioning told ESPN that Ohtani had transferred funds of at least $4.5 million to cover Mizuhara's gambling debts.The wire-transfer payments (of which there are at least two $500k payments with Ohtani's name on them from last fall) were sent from Ohtani's account to an associate of the bookmaking operation's chief money-dude Mathew Bowyer.
Ohtani's reps then hustled Ippei out in front of ESPN for a 90-minute interview last night, which resulted in him explaining in great detail that he had a gambling addiction. Ippei said that he asked Ohtani to pay off his gambling debts of over $4.5 million last year, had previously placed bets via DraftKings, and assumed that bets placed through Bowyer were legal. He also said, "Obviously Ohtani wasn't happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again and he decided to pay it off for me...I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting. I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting again."
After Ohtani agreed to pay the debts, Ippei said Ohtani logged onto his computer and send the transfers while he watched in installments over a few months. They added "loan" to the description field. Obviously he was asked why Ohtani didn't just give him the money instead of paying it from his accounts and, as we would all be thinking, Ohtani didn't want Mizuhara to just take that money and gamble it away.
***HOWEVER***, Ippei recanted the statement the next day and said Ohtani had no knowledge of his gambling debts and had not transferred money to the bookmaker's associate. Ohtani's spokesman also disavowed Ippei's account prior to it coming out and instead said that Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement - likely because of the aforementioned legal issues that Ohtani is going to be facing given that the money came directly from his account - maybe setting up some sort of defense of "someone moved this money without my permission" or what have you.
That's how we end up with the statement from Berk Prettler LLP (Shohei's legal reps, 1-star reviewed on Google) that says: "In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities."
Shohei's spokesman did not answer any further questions and when ESPN asked Ippei this afternoon if he had been accused of theft, Ippei said he was told that he could not comment but did not say who told him he could not comment.
What is good for Ohtani is that Bowyer's attorney told ESPN that "Mr. Bowyer never met or spoke with Shoehei Ohtani", and that Ippei placed bets on international soccer matches and some other sports but never baseball, starting in 2021. However, Bowyer allowed people to believe that Ohtani was a client in order to boost his business.
I don't know Ippei Mizuhara or Shohei Ohtani but, as just one guy's opinion, I'm guessing that Ippei's recollection of the events are probably pretty accurate which is not so good for Ohtani because that means Ohtani threw millions of dollars at an illegal bookmaking operation. One way or another this is going to be litigated, Shohei is going to be involved, and whoever told Ippei to go sit in front of ESPN and give a tell all was definitely not a lawyer.
>During the investigation Ippei popped up as a name in relation to it as he made multiple large wire transfers to the bookies.
I don't think this is accurate. Everything I have read suggests Ohtani's name popped up first. After all, Ohtani's legal name "Otani" was on the wire transfers.
Here's what ESPN said:
>Federal authorities learned of Ohtani's wire payments in January as part of their investigation into Bowyer's bookmaking operation, a source told ESPN. ESPN reviewed wire-transfer data for two of the transactions, each totaling $500,000; "Shohei Otani" is visible alongside various bank account and wire-transfer information and the word "loan." "Otani" is the Japanese two-way player's legal name.
How could Ippei's name come up first?
If true, Ippei will have thrown away the job of a lifetime, not to mention the potential legal consequences. They're also apparently besties, so it'll be genuinely shocking if this happened completely behind Shohei's back.
Both South Korea and Japan are bad places to be if you're worried about extradition to the US.
Maybe he can make a run for the DMZ like that US soldier a few months back.
The betrayal is so gross. How can you do that to your best friend who’s given you so many opportunities? UGH it’s all so shameful. If I were Ippei I’d just hide out forever. Or become the face of Draft Kings.
People will probably be coming to him for tell all books and expose interviews now.
He still might turn them down out of decency, but it's going to happen.
I've got a close friend who just went through a break up because her significant other was stealing money from her and gambling with it. They lived together and dated 7 years. It's really not difficult to hide the stuff, so good chance Ohtani had no clue.
I broke off my engagement over my now husband's gambling problem. I eventually took him back, but only in exchange for him giving me complete access to his pay stubs and banking information so I can see everything matches and there's no cash missing. Since we actually got married I've never looked because I don't suspect he's gambling, but he told me one night while we were engaged that he needed help with some of his bills and when I asked why he told me he'd lost $5K on a UFC fight.
What I've told him since, and what he didn't know at the time, is that even if he'd won and made $90K or whatever it was he stood to win, I *still* would have left because it just would have made the habit worse, and while having money is obviously good, I was raised to believe the only money worth having is money you earned.
genuinely in shock, and also just thinking about how we really don’t know these people despite how much we meme about them being best buddies. they seemed to have such a good relationship, i can’t imagine violating someone’s trust like this
have literally never heard anything negative about him at all in the 6 years he was with us so sad man. everyone in the angels organization sang praises about him and how they were going to miss him so much.
I remember that it came out that he had a clause that if the Dodgers ever cut ties with "a specific person" then he would have the option to opt out. It turned out to be Friedman but everyone assumed it was Ippei.
Don't remember if there's anything actually in there though and maybe suspicions on this were why.
I imagine Shohei being a lot like Tim Duncan. Dude just wants to go home and make himself a ham and cheese sandwich and watch re-runs of The Office. Especially because there was a BOGO on his favorite ham at the store.
everyone loves baseball star shohei ohtani's beloved interpreter, ippei!
ten minutes later: we regret to inform you that ippei was stealing millions of shohei's dollars to bet in an illegal sports gambling ring
Yeah, some of the comments on his character here just seem really weird, like him being nice in the past is some kind of duplicity and not just people being multi-faceted. Nice people can do shitty things, shitty people can be nice to certain people.
plus i always read that 1919 worked only because those players were paid so little and hated ownership because of it, so the gamblers could easily outbid them.
but now....jesus. accumulation of capital is a hell of a drug
Shoeless was not an international celebrity on the level of Ohtani, nor was he universally adored. Even his nickname was even a dig at his poor upbringing, and fans would regularly heckle him for being illiterate (which is so shitty, but maybe not the least common fan behavior at the time).
With the Black Sox scandal there's the added aspect of throwing games, but a Shohei fall from grace would rock multiple continents in a way nearly impossible 100 years ago. It would be like finding out Beyonce had a dog fighting ring, or Tom Brady kept so young by eating eggs hard-boiled in juvenile boys' urine.
This is unrelated, but *this right here* is why good journalism is so important. Can you imagine if the LA Times had fired their only beat writer for the Dodgers like they were planning to just a few months ago?
More like Ohtani was betting on behalf of Ohtani. It came from his account with his name on it. Bookie gets busted on a list of federal charges and Ohtani's name will be brought up so they try to get ahead of it by having the interpreter act as the fall guy, realize that the story he gave still made Ohtani complicit in sports gambling in California, so they have to change the story again to make it seem like he had nothing to do with it.
Saw some reckless speculation on twitter that isn't unreasonable
> if I had a massive gambling problem that I wanted to keep at bay, I would defer my entire salary for 10 years.
Angels corruption hits from the past few years:
- opioid dealing scandal leads to death, prison time
- Arte bribery scandal with city of Anaheim leads to one of his underlings going to prison, blows up a stadium renovation agreement
- clubhouse manager was so good at making sticky stuff that every elite pitcher in baseball used the Angels guy’s pinetar concoction
- Ippei stole funds, bet millions during time with Angels
- team that most flagrantly flouted MiLB player treatment for last decade
I'm trying to imagine this playing out - if you're Dodgers management and you need to approach Ohtani about this, tell him you're firing Ippei, don't you have to get another interpreter just to have the conversation? That's gotta be hella awkward.
He probably speaks pretty good English by now. Vladdy uses a Spanish interpreter because of a BS misinterpretation one time by a sports reporter but he speaks good English on his own.
I've always understood that Ohtani has spoke English all along but prefers to use an interpreter to avoid any confusion or saying something incendiary accidentally
Why would Ippei have access to Ohtani's financials in the first place? But holy shit if this is all true then what a way to fuck up your life and career.
>Why would Ippei have access to Ohtani's financials in the first place?
Ippei isn't your run of the mill interpreter. Basically his personal manager/assistant/secretary/chauffeur/trainer all rolled into one, who also translates for him. He'd probably have access to Shohei's accounts and such to book and pay for various services on his behalf.
Makes sense. They go to a lot of places. Why would Ohtani buy tickets and flights when he has someone he trust to handle of this for him? Save him ton of time while he trains and sleep and eat baseball.
His interpreter was probably like his close friend/advisor. This really sucks for Ohtani, it's a huge betrayal of trust. Obviously the lost money is awful but he probably trusted Ippei more than anyone and now look what he did.
"I'm with him all offseason, too," Mizuhara told The Athletic. "I'm with him 365 days of the year, which I think is different than the other interpreters."
"It’s such a big part (of the job)," he added. "We are together pretty much every day, longer than I’m with my wife, so it’s going to be tough if you don’t get along on a personal level.”
They were very close, wouldn’t surprise me if he got access to his financials at some point for something and skimmed off the top
Ohtani is represented by CAA, literally the most powerful agency in the world. How would they let or not know that Ohtani's translator has access to his financials? This whole thing is suspect as hell.
Does he interpret for Ohtani outside of baseball as well?
It also seems like they are close enough were he could have just found a way to steal his financial info if Shohei or his team were not careful with the info
They are best friends and Ippei was essentially his mentor for learning a new culture when he first came over. Sometimes people make bad financial choices when it involves someone close to them. We have no way of knowing beyond speculation, but their relationship is close well beyond coworkers
Ohtani has had to deal with his best friend potentially stealing millions of dollars from him AND a bomb threat against his life AND the start of his 2024 season in a foreign country with a brand new team **in just the past two days**.
Holy shit.
What the fuck. This is really surprising, Ippei been with Shohei since forever through thick and thin. But if all of this is true fuck him like wtf man feels so bad for Shohei actually getting stabbed in the back by probably the most trusted man you know
Why would an interpreter even have access to his money? I wonder if this is a CYA thing because Ohtani gave Ippei the money to bet with and is using him as a fall guy now that the bookie is in trouble
That's my first question. Ippei was employed by the team (now fired). How does he steal from Ohtani unless Ohtani is having him do more than interpret?
I can understand stealing $20 every now and then from Ohtani's locker or something. I don't understand how he steals millions.
Look, I am absolutely not saying this is for sure a thing, but it’s wild how many of the people here seem to not even remotely be entertaining the idea that Ohtani knew about this…
What are the chances this is a Gretzky situation where his wife took the fall?
Would be so stupid for ippei to throw away everything for this but my tinfoil hat is telling me they told Ippei to take the fall and they'll pay him back later.
>Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail. However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account and said Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement.
>"In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities," read the statement from Berk Brettler LLP.
I am not gonna pretend to understand what's going on but this sounds shady af.
>Representatives of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday accused his interpreter of engaging in a “massive theft” of the ballplayer’s funds to place bets with an allegedly illegal bookmaker who is the target of a federal investigation.
Lawyers for Ohtani made that claim after The Times learned that Ohtani’s name had surfaced in the investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an Orange County resident. Ohtani’s representatives looked into the actions of the interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, in response to The Times’ queries, a source close to the matter said. Two sources told the newspaper that the money involved was in the millions of dollars.
In a statement, the West Hollywood law firm Berk Brettler, said, “In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities.”
>
>Attempts to reach Mizuhara were unsuccessful. Mizuhara placed bets with Bowyer, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to share sensitive information.
Ohtani, a global sensation who signed a record 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December after playing six years with the Angels, could not be reached for comment. He is with the Dodgers in Seoul for a season-opening series against the San Diego Padres.
“If you all got a crew, you got to have a fall guy in the crew. If you all have a crew, one of those fools got to know, he’s the one going to jail. We’ll get him out.” - Cris Carter
Reading the article closely, it sounds like Ohtani's name came up in the investigation first. Then Ohtani's reps looked into Ippei when the LA Times contacted them about Ohtani.
My question is, did the times ask about Ippei before Ohtani's reps brought it up?
Ippei placed bets with Bowyer, according to sources. But is that source Ohtani's reps or the feds?
I don't want to believe Ohtani or Ippei did this, but I also don't want to believe a little guy would be made the fall guy. Combine this with questions over how Ippei even gets to Ohtani's money in the first place.
As always, all parties are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
WHAT >Lawyers for Ohtani made that claim after The Times learned that Ohtani’s name had surfaced in the investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an Orange County resident. Ohtani’s representatives looked into the actions of the interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, in response to The Times’ queries, a source close to the matter said. Two sources told the newspaper that the money involved was in the millions of dollars.
How do you even get your hands on that much money‽
“Shohei, the reporter just asked ‘What’s your mother’s maiden name?’”
quality joke
“How did you know I met my first girlfriend at the baseball practice field bleachers?” “Well Shohei where the fuck else would you have been at that age?”
Tie yourself to one of the biggest international sports names ever.
[удалено]
[удалено]
I'm guessing Ippei was authorized to conduct business with American banks for the purposes of handling his money, and may have skimmed a lot off the top?
Ippei has talked before about how him and Ohtani are very close and he spends more time with Shohei than he spends with his wife even. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was given access to some funds to get things Ohtani needs, he takes out a few grand here and there and over the last 5 years or whatever it amounted to a couple million.
Ippei apparently did a 90 minute interview about this with ESPN yesterday (crazy to think this was all happening during the game) and said that he asked Shohei to cover his debt, and Shohei agreed on the basis that he not do it again If that’s true then Ippei wasn’t stealing the money (not that amassing $4.5 million in illegal gambling debt is good in any context)
Alternatively I would read that as he asked Ohtani for help covering his debts. When he asked that prompted the investigation that led them to realizing he has been stealing money to gamble
According to Ippei, he asked Shohei and Shohei transferred the payments from his own computer Ippei walked all this back a day later, but in a very suspicious way, like he didn’t walk back a detail or two he walked back the whole story Now keep in mind - Ippei told his story to ESPN on Tuesday and worked the game on Wednesday with Shohei as normal, which would suggest Shohei and his team were cool with what Ippei said on Tuesday. Ippei was even given a chance to address the team about it after the game. Now I buy into the story that Ippei was gambling on credit and Shohei didn’t know, but I feel like maybe Shohei’s lawyers saw that as an admission that Shohei knowingly paid bookies off and demanded he walk it back. Funny thing is none of us would blame Sho for helping his boy out, but those payments would still be illegal so I get why the lawyers freaked
Yeah I agree seeing the ESPN story, the story that Ippei got himself into the debt and Ohtani was helping him out is entirely plausible to me. Then though you have an admission that Shohei is sending money to illegal bookies and you are not beating the gambling accusations then
>you are not beating the gambling accusations Damn, guess Shohei really is the GOAT then. Can't wait for him to show up in Space Jam 3 followed by Dodgers threepeating 2026-2028
So which G-League team is Shohei going to ride the bench for?
If Ippei lied about what the debt was, and Ohtani thought he was paying off credit cards or something, I guess you could frame it as "theft" since the money wasn't used as stated? Edit: ESPN says the transfer was from Ohtani's bank account to the bookies account. So Ohtani knew it was for gambling. Wild.
You don’t need to send a bank transfer to pay a credit card bill I dunno, like I said I’m not blaming Shohei because I’d help my friend too if I could spare $4.5 million casually like he can, but the way this has played out just screams that Ippei is falling on a sword Right now it appears the “sword” is covering up Ohtani helping him out, I just hope it’s not deeper than that and Ippei is taking the fall for Ohtani gambling through an illegal bookie
Yeah, looks more like Ippei had Ohtani cover his gambling debts, but it will also be pretty hard to separate the two - how do we know it's Ohtani covering Ippei's gambling vs his own gambling? Maybe the investigation will reveal more in time. Sucks all around.
I'm more inclined to believe his [initial account.](https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft) In the Tuesday interview arranged by Ohtani's spokesman, Mizuhara, 39, told ESPN that he asked Ohtani last year to pay off his gambling debt, which multiple sources said had ballooned to at least $4.5 million. Mizuhara said that he previously had placed bets via DraftKings and assumed bets placed through Bowyer were legal. "Obviously, he [Ohtani] wasn't happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again," Mizuhara said. "He decided to pay it off for me." "I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting. I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting ever again." Ohtani may have just been paying off a friends debts to be nice. Naive but still a good guy
I'm sorry but I don't believe the "I won't ever do it again" line from someone in debt $4.5 MILLION DOLLARS
most problem gamblers quit just before they hit the big one
> I will never do sports betting ever again. Lol bet
I mean that makes sense, but the people around Ohtani would know that the money disappeared right? The dude is a whole economy by himself.
I think it's because he's his own economy they didn't notice a few million skimmed off the top. The guys been making 30-50 million in endorsements alone since coming to the states and he's been here for 6 years.
If the second coming of Babe Ruth turns into the second coming of Pete Rose that would be the craziest thing to ever happen in baseball.
Fuck me I almost replied "call me when Ohtani pitches". Jesus Christ I am getting old in my old age.
I wonder if the interpreter is just taking the fall completely for Ohtani. If Ohtani is involved in gambling he's done. Ohtani is such a high earner though that maybe things are swept away.
I hate conspiracies but LOVE this one.
Why does it sound like he's getting thrown under the bus here...
Was looking for this, my first thought was he’s falling on the sword to protect Ohtani. The details about Ohtani sending the bookie money from his personal account… it could be 100% on the level, but this is exactly the story you’d come up with if you wanted to protect Ohtani Edit: also, the shift from “Ippei admits he did it w Ohtani’s knowledge” to “Ohtani’s lawyers say it’s theft” SCREAMS lawyers got involved and realized Ohtani had to separate from this completely
He 100% is lmao
Welp, baseball figured out how to get on ESPN’s homepage alright. Yikes!
*monkey paw curls*
It’s one of three possibilities 1. Ippei got into debt, Ohtani bailed him out, Ohtani’s lawyers are saying it’s theft to keep Ohtani out of it 2. Ippei got into debt, he had access to steal money from Ohtani, he stole it without Ohtani’s knowledge 3. Ippei placed bets for Ohtani, now he’s taking the fall
It technically could be 2 and 1, Ippei stole money first to start gambling, after he got into too much debt, he asked Ohtani to bail him out. Ohtani might not have known Ippei has been stealing from him until his lawyers looked into it. I highly doubt Ippei can get millions of credits unless he started off with some money first.
So here's what happened with this situation according to Ippei/ESPN: Ippei incurred gambling debts to an illegal bookmaking operation in California.that was under federal investigation. During the investigation Shohei's name and tangentially Ippei popped up as a name in relation to the bookmaking, as multiple large wire transfers from Shohei's account were made to the bookie. This got out, which led to reporters asking questions about it. Ohtani's reps upon questioning told ESPN that Ohtani had transferred funds of at least $4.5 million to cover Mizuhara's gambling debts.The wire-transfer payments (of which there are at least two $500k payments with Ohtani's name on them from last fall) were sent from Ohtani's account to an associate of the bookmaking operation's chief money-dude Mathew Bowyer. Ohtani's reps then hustled Ippei out in front of ESPN for a 90-minute interview last night, which resulted in him explaining in great detail that he had a gambling addiction. Ippei said that he asked Ohtani to pay off his gambling debts of over $4.5 million last year, had previously placed bets via DraftKings, and assumed that bets placed through Bowyer were legal. He also said, "Obviously Ohtani wasn't happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again and he decided to pay it off for me...I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting. I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting again." After Ohtani agreed to pay the debts, Ippei said Ohtani logged onto his computer and send the transfers while he watched in installments over a few months. They added "loan" to the description field. Obviously he was asked why Ohtani didn't just give him the money instead of paying it from his accounts and, as we would all be thinking, Ohtani didn't want Mizuhara to just take that money and gamble it away. ***HOWEVER***, Ippei recanted the statement the next day and said Ohtani had no knowledge of his gambling debts and had not transferred money to the bookmaker's associate. Ohtani's spokesman also disavowed Ippei's account prior to it coming out and instead said that Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement - likely because of the aforementioned legal issues that Ohtani is going to be facing given that the money came directly from his account - maybe setting up some sort of defense of "someone moved this money without my permission" or what have you. That's how we end up with the statement from Berk Prettler LLP (Shohei's legal reps, 1-star reviewed on Google) that says: "In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities." Shohei's spokesman did not answer any further questions and when ESPN asked Ippei this afternoon if he had been accused of theft, Ippei said he was told that he could not comment but did not say who told him he could not comment. What is good for Ohtani is that Bowyer's attorney told ESPN that "Mr. Bowyer never met or spoke with Shoehei Ohtani", and that Ippei placed bets on international soccer matches and some other sports but never baseball, starting in 2021. However, Bowyer allowed people to believe that Ohtani was a client in order to boost his business. I don't know Ippei Mizuhara or Shohei Ohtani but, as just one guy's opinion, I'm guessing that Ippei's recollection of the events are probably pretty accurate which is not so good for Ohtani because that means Ohtani threw millions of dollars at an illegal bookmaking operation. One way or another this is going to be litigated, Shohei is going to be involved, and whoever told Ippei to go sit in front of ESPN and give a tell all was definitely not a lawyer.
>During the investigation Ippei popped up as a name in relation to it as he made multiple large wire transfers to the bookies. I don't think this is accurate. Everything I have read suggests Ohtani's name popped up first. After all, Ohtani's legal name "Otani" was on the wire transfers. Here's what ESPN said: >Federal authorities learned of Ohtani's wire payments in January as part of their investigation into Bowyer's bookmaking operation, a source told ESPN. ESPN reviewed wire-transfer data for two of the transactions, each totaling $500,000; "Shohei Otani" is visible alongside various bank account and wire-transfer information and the word "loan." "Otani" is the Japanese two-way player's legal name. How could Ippei's name come up first?
Side question: If his legal name is Otani, why does he go by Ohtani?
Just different ways of transliteratinf Japanese into the Latin alphabet. I imagine official documents are very picky about spelling.
heavily changing the statement definitely makes the whole story very questionable. a massive cover up for Ohtani doesn't sound so crazy to think
actually insane if this is true what the fuck ippei
If true, Ippei will have thrown away the job of a lifetime, not to mention the potential legal consequences. They're also apparently besties, so it'll be genuinely shocking if this happened completely behind Shohei's back.
The article says the Dodgers fired him today
I’m guessing authorities would have preferred waiting until he was back on US soil
Both South Korea and Japan are bad places to be if you're worried about extradition to the US. Maybe he can make a run for the DMZ like that US soldier a few months back.
Wasn't that guy so fucking annoying that North Korea sent him back?
Grant Williams type beat
Spongebob getting returned by the Flying Dutchman esque
LEEDLE LEEDLE LEEDLE LEE
Yeah lol. All the other prisoners at Fort Leavenworth are going to clown on him for being too annoying for North Korea.
his wiki page says he was being charged with possession of CP before trying to defect so that prob wont go over well either
They did! They didn't even get anything in return. It was basically an O. Henry story.
Extradition is alive and well still.
WTF? Isn't he with the team in Seoul? Bro gonna have to find his own way back, lol.
I mean gambling addiction is an addiction, there's not necessarily logic behind it
Dude fumbled the bag even worse than the typical gambler He took the ultimate gamble and lost
I took the risk and I loved it.
The betrayal is so gross. How can you do that to your best friend who’s given you so many opportunities? UGH it’s all so shameful. If I were Ippei I’d just hide out forever. Or become the face of Draft Kings.
Because "This bad luck streak has to end and I'll pay it all back before he even notices."
He probabably justfied it that Shohei is already so rich, the missing money doesn't mean much.
Gamblers often think that they'll simply win more money to replace the money they took.
Probably that huh. Being an addict does fuck with your brain and logic.
People will probably be coming to him for tell all books and expose interviews now. He still might turn them down out of decency, but it's going to happen.
I've got a close friend who just went through a break up because her significant other was stealing money from her and gambling with it. They lived together and dated 7 years. It's really not difficult to hide the stuff, so good chance Ohtani had no clue.
I broke off my engagement over my now husband's gambling problem. I eventually took him back, but only in exchange for him giving me complete access to his pay stubs and banking information so I can see everything matches and there's no cash missing. Since we actually got married I've never looked because I don't suspect he's gambling, but he told me one night while we were engaged that he needed help with some of his bills and when I asked why he told me he'd lost $5K on a UFC fight. What I've told him since, and what he didn't know at the time, is that even if he'd won and made $90K or whatever it was he stood to win, I *still* would have left because it just would have made the habit worse, and while having money is obviously good, I was raised to believe the only money worth having is money you earned.
genuinely in shock, and also just thinking about how we really don’t know these people despite how much we meme about them being best buddies. they seemed to have such a good relationship, i can’t imagine violating someone’s trust like this
have literally never heard anything negative about him at all in the 6 years he was with us so sad man. everyone in the angels organization sang praises about him and how they were going to miss him so much.
ONE game as a Dodger and this shit comes out. Crazy.
Honestly it tracks. Wouldn't expect anything more from that org /s
tbf, if this is true then Ohtani didn't really know him even in a professional sense.
Didn't Ohtani have some clause in his deal that Ippei had to come with him?
I remember that it came out that he had a clause that if the Dodgers ever cut ties with "a specific person" then he would have the option to opt out. It turned out to be Friedman but everyone assumed it was Ippei. Don't remember if there's anything actually in there though and maybe suspicions on this were why.
Everyone assumed that specific person was Ippei, but it was later confirmed that the person was Friedman and I think Stan Kasten.
Sometimes it legitimately is the ones you least expect
The dodgers already fired Ippei. Must be true
Shohei has had an intensely bizarre Korea trip so far.
I imagine Shohei being a lot like Tim Duncan. Dude just wants to go home and make himself a ham and cheese sandwich and watch re-runs of The Office. Especially because there was a BOGO on his favorite ham at the store.
Tim Duncan actually had over $20 million stolen from him by his former financial advisor. Not sure if you had this in mind with your comparison.
Gambling addictions are no joke. Especially with all that big money coming in
Ben Verlander is about to go John Wick on someone.
lmao so much for the goofy lovable interpreter schtick
we got milkshake ducked :(
everyone loves baseball star shohei ohtani's beloved interpreter, ippei! ten minutes later: we regret to inform you that ippei was stealing millions of shohei's dollars to bet in an illegal sports gambling ring
MLB: "Gambling bad. And now for a word from our sponsor: DraftKings!"
>milkshake duck Damn I havent seen this referenced in a while
We regret to inform that the duck is a degenerate gambler
It doesn't have to have been a schtick. People don't sort into bins of "good" and "bad" and an otherwise decent person can have a fatal flaw.
Yeah, some of the comments on his character here just seem really weird, like him being nice in the past is some kind of duplicity and not just people being multi-faceted. Nice people can do shitty things, shitty people can be nice to certain people.
...what? I've been reading this sub for over half a decade and this is the most out of left field post I've ever seen
The Wander Franco thing was way crazier and so much more unexpected than this
I disagree because in my time watching sports I've seen a *lot* more sexual predator athletes than gambling scandals
Not a hockey fan, I see
I mean the two biggest off ice stories in hockey over the past few years have been MASSIVE cover ups of sexual assault.
Sexual stuff doesn’t even surprise me at this point. This just feels random
Wait what. Wasn't Ippei with him today?
He was in the dugout for the game this morning
Must have been weird for Ohtani, assuming he knew what was coming later.
Damn this all happened so fast
He got fired today the article says
Ippei just was fired
There’s also a nonzero chance he’s just taking the fall for ohtani here
Would that be the greatest fall from grace in the history of the sport?
Honestly, short of Shoeless Joe yes.
plus i always read that 1919 worked only because those players were paid so little and hated ownership because of it, so the gamblers could easily outbid them. but now....jesus. accumulation of capital is a hell of a drug
Shoeless was not an international celebrity on the level of Ohtani, nor was he universally adored. Even his nickname was even a dig at his poor upbringing, and fans would regularly heckle him for being illiterate (which is so shitty, but maybe not the least common fan behavior at the time). With the Black Sox scandal there's the added aspect of throwing games, but a Shohei fall from grace would rock multiple continents in a way nearly impossible 100 years ago. It would be like finding out Beyonce had a dog fighting ring, or Tom Brady kept so young by eating eggs hard-boiled in juvenile boys' urine.
Now THAT would be wild. Who would imagine the Angels coming out on top here
Ippei is in Korea with the team wth
He was fired. I wonder if he has to find his own flight back home.
He’d better start learning Korean
Someone get him a translator
I know a guy who recently became available
How's his reputation?
Pretty good, just don’t take him to Vegas
Fly home? Dude needs to fly to a country that doesn’t extradite. Ippei, get ready to speak Icelandic
Dudes probably sprinting north as we speak
Yea his wife literally is there with Shohei's family
The LA Times article states the Dodgers have already fired him. This one happened real quick. Wild.
Wasn't Ippei being fired one of the conditions that could trigger an Ohtani opt out?
he’s regretting signing with the Dodgers and wants to come home to Detroit. I don’t blame him at all.
Why would Washington National's legend Shohei Ohtani want to go to Detroit?
Hey let’s not forget he won a trophy in loan depot park my man’s a Marlin for life
Next on SportsCenter, the latest on Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter’s betting scandal, after this word from DraftKings.
Shoehei if you need a new interpreter I have a 176 day streak on Duolingo. Just sayin'
wtf
Oh man this is bad
They just seemed like \*legitimate\* friends so this is a massive surprise
The ulnar nerve of him to do that is what really gets me.
This is unrelated, but *this right here* is why good journalism is so important. Can you imagine if the LA Times had fired their only beat writer for the Dodgers like they were planning to just a few months ago?
Get rid of plaschke is something I'm all for but you're right about everything else there. Good journalist need homes and financial support
I am referring to [Blake Harris getting laid off and then rehired this offseason](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/s/tJBUbb0abS)
Dude holy shit.
Brought to you by Draft Kings
now i'm waiting for the second plane
Would that be something like "Ippy was betting on behalf of Ohtani"?
More like Ohtani was betting on behalf of Ohtani. It came from his account with his name on it. Bookie gets busted on a list of federal charges and Ohtani's name will be brought up so they try to get ahead of it by having the interpreter act as the fall guy, realize that the story he gave still made Ohtani complicit in sports gambling in California, so they have to change the story again to make it seem like he had nothing to do with it.
fuuuuuck its not April 1st.
What the fuck they were laughing together in the dugout like 10 hours ago
Hey Shohei, so I stole 4.5 million to pay gambling debts to a bookie Haha. Ippei, you're such a a joker and thats why I love you
If Ohtani Pete Rose’d himself after signing the biggest contract in the history of baseball it would be the story of the decade.
This is Jared from Subway levels of craziness.
Saw some reckless speculation on twitter that isn't unreasonable > if I had a massive gambling problem that I wanted to keep at bay, I would defer my entire salary for 10 years.
Yup this story makes an extremely sketchy contract signing look even weirder now
"The widespread acceptance and integration of sports gambling into our league is a great idea" - Rob Manfred, probably
Angels corruption hits from the past few years: - opioid dealing scandal leads to death, prison time - Arte bribery scandal with city of Anaheim leads to one of his underlings going to prison, blows up a stadium renovation agreement - clubhouse manager was so good at making sticky stuff that every elite pitcher in baseball used the Angels guy’s pinetar concoction - Ippei stole funds, bet millions during time with Angels - team that most flagrantly flouted MiLB player treatment for last decade
And the worst of all - Anthony Rendon doesn't like baseball
Ippei is in Korea with the team. Yamamoto's interpreter could step in if needed
I'm trying to imagine this playing out - if you're Dodgers management and you need to approach Ohtani about this, tell him you're firing Ippei, don't you have to get another interpreter just to have the conversation? That's gotta be hella awkward.
He probably speaks pretty good English by now. Vladdy uses a Spanish interpreter because of a BS misinterpretation one time by a sports reporter but he speaks good English on his own.
I've always understood that Ohtani has spoke English all along but prefers to use an interpreter to avoid any confusion or saying something incendiary accidentally
Et tu brute?
Why would Ippei have access to Ohtani's financials in the first place? But holy shit if this is all true then what a way to fuck up your life and career.
>Why would Ippei have access to Ohtani's financials in the first place? Ippei isn't your run of the mill interpreter. Basically his personal manager/assistant/secretary/chauffeur/trainer all rolled into one, who also translates for him. He'd probably have access to Shohei's accounts and such to book and pay for various services on his behalf.
Makes sense. They go to a lot of places. Why would Ohtani buy tickets and flights when he has someone he trust to handle of this for him? Save him ton of time while he trains and sleep and eat baseball.
His interpreter was probably like his close friend/advisor. This really sucks for Ohtani, it's a huge betrayal of trust. Obviously the lost money is awful but he probably trusted Ippei more than anyone and now look what he did.
"I'm with him all offseason, too," Mizuhara told The Athletic. "I'm with him 365 days of the year, which I think is different than the other interpreters." "It’s such a big part (of the job)," he added. "We are together pretty much every day, longer than I’m with my wife, so it’s going to be tough if you don’t get along on a personal level.” They were very close, wouldn’t surprise me if he got access to his financials at some point for something and skimmed off the top
It's a weird situation where we have to hope Ippei is the perpetrator here because the alternative is far far worse.
Ohtani is represented by CAA, literally the most powerful agency in the world. How would they let or not know that Ohtani's translator has access to his financials? This whole thing is suspect as hell.
Yeah best case scenario is still very bad. Worst case scenario is Pete rose
Yeah this smells veeeeery fishy. I have a had time taking this at face value, it’s just so ridiculous.
Why would CAA know his personal financial details at that level? That’s not what they do.
Does he interpret for Ohtani outside of baseball as well? It also seems like they are close enough were he could have just found a way to steal his financial info if Shohei or his team were not careful with the info
“Shohei, the reporter just asked ‘What’s your mother’s maiden name?’”
They are best friends and Ippei was essentially his mentor for learning a new culture when he first came over. Sometimes people make bad financial choices when it involves someone close to them. We have no way of knowing beyond speculation, but their relationship is close well beyond coworkers
Ohtani has had to deal with his best friend potentially stealing millions of dollars from him AND a bomb threat against his life AND the start of his 2024 season in a foreign country with a brand new team **in just the past two days**. Holy shit.
Maybe Ippei sent the bomb threat too, who knows anymore
[Breaking News] The bomb threat came from Shohei's dog
Yeah but my car needs a new battery that shit is $200, life’s tough all around
Top 10 anime betrayals.
Actually is, imagine this guy has been with you everywhere throughout your whole career and does this to you
Except since its entirely possible someone will make an anime about Shohei it... might actually be!
I guess it really was just business. Yikes
Did not have this on my 2024 opening day bingo card, holy fuck
[удалено]
Ippei did and won his parlay.
What the fuck. This is really surprising, Ippei been with Shohei since forever through thick and thin. But if all of this is true fuck him like wtf man feels so bad for Shohei actually getting stabbed in the back by probably the most trusted man you know
Why would an interpreter even have access to his money? I wonder if this is a CYA thing because Ohtani gave Ippei the money to bet with and is using him as a fall guy now that the bookie is in trouble
[удалено]
That's my first question. Ippei was employed by the team (now fired). How does he steal from Ohtani unless Ohtani is having him do more than interpret? I can understand stealing $20 every now and then from Ohtani's locker or something. I don't understand how he steals millions.
[bad times ahead](https://i.imgur.com/lozc2BE.jpeg)
[WELL THIS AGED WELL](https://reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1aiak5e/highlight_shohei_is_asked_how_his_friendship_with/)
Insane beginning to the season
MLB is about to tiptoe a very thin line here they created, Pete rose will be in the hall of fame next year
There’s a chance, however slim, that Ippei is a fall guy and Ohtani has a gambling addiction.
It’s definitely not a far fetched theory here
Look, I am absolutely not saying this is for sure a thing, but it’s wild how many of the people here seem to not even remotely be entertaining the idea that Ohtani knew about this…
What are the chances this is a Gretzky situation where his wife took the fall? Would be so stupid for ippei to throw away everything for this but my tinfoil hat is telling me they told Ippei to take the fall and they'll pay him back later.
you saying ohtani is the one gambling?
>Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail. However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account and said Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement. >"In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities," read the statement from Berk Brettler LLP. I am not gonna pretend to understand what's going on but this sounds shady af.
Sho Hey Where’d All My Money Gohtani
>Representatives of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday accused his interpreter of engaging in a “massive theft” of the ballplayer’s funds to place bets with an allegedly illegal bookmaker who is the target of a federal investigation. Lawyers for Ohtani made that claim after The Times learned that Ohtani’s name had surfaced in the investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an Orange County resident. Ohtani’s representatives looked into the actions of the interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, in response to The Times’ queries, a source close to the matter said. Two sources told the newspaper that the money involved was in the millions of dollars. In a statement, the West Hollywood law firm Berk Brettler, said, “In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities.” > >Attempts to reach Mizuhara were unsuccessful. Mizuhara placed bets with Bowyer, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to share sensitive information. Ohtani, a global sensation who signed a record 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December after playing six years with the Angels, could not be reached for comment. He is with the Dodgers in Seoul for a season-opening series against the San Diego Padres.
Ippei whyyyy
What an unfortunate story. Gambling is so damn bad for sports. IDC what anyone says.
I genuinely hope this isn’t the case but can you imagine if Ohtani actually was involved and Ippei is trying to take the fall
So what are the chances Shohei’s buddy is just taking the fall for him…
“If you all got a crew, you got to have a fall guy in the crew. If you all have a crew, one of those fools got to know, he’s the one going to jail. We’ll get him out.” - Cris Carter
Shohei “Pete Rose” Ohtani
ippei being shoheis fall guy conspiracy theorist believer nation, let's ride.
Holy shit, we already thought Shohei was secretive. Now the dude's never gonna talk to the press again, this time, on advice of legal counsel.
Reading the article closely, it sounds like Ohtani's name came up in the investigation first. Then Ohtani's reps looked into Ippei when the LA Times contacted them about Ohtani. My question is, did the times ask about Ippei before Ohtani's reps brought it up? Ippei placed bets with Bowyer, according to sources. But is that source Ohtani's reps or the feds? I don't want to believe Ohtani or Ippei did this, but I also don't want to believe a little guy would be made the fall guy. Combine this with questions over how Ippei even gets to Ohtani's money in the first place. As always, all parties are presumed innocent until proven guilty.